Infant care apparatus such as infant warmers or incubators includes an infant platform, which needs to be moved during a clinical procedure. The infant care apparatus is provided with a drive mechanism to move/tilt the infant platform or the infant bed.
Conventionally a drive control mechanism or a user interface for moving the infant bed is provided at the front side of the infant platform. In a resuscitation situation, the clinician will be standing at the front side of the warmer and therefore, it is difficult for anyone else to access the user interface during resuscitation and move the infant platform appropriately. Further, in an emergency situation, the clinician may be standing near the lateral sides of the warmer. If the user interface is connected at the front side of the warmer it will be difficult for the clinician to access the user interface by himself. Similarly, if the clinician is standing near to the front side of the apparatus, it will be difficult for a caretaker to access and operate the interface, which is located at the front side of the apparatus, without disturbing the clinician or the workflow.
If a clinician is performing a surgical procedure on the NICU, and is standing near to one of the lateral side of the infant, it will be difficult for him to access the user interface connected at the front side or on the other lateral side of the apparatus. Similarly, for a mother who is lying near to the lateral side of the infant care apparatus, it will be difficult to access the interface provided at the front side of the apparatus. Similarly, an infant care giver sitting near to the infant will have problem in accessing the interface, if the interface is provided at the front side of the apparatus.
Thus having one interface or having an interface at the front side of the apparatus for moving the infant platform causes inconvenience to the clinician and the caregiver. Many times if another person needs to access the interface, the workflow or the clinical procedure needs to be interrupted and this will result in wastage of time and affect the efficiency of the process.
Thus there exists a need to provide an improved infant care apparatus with multiple user interfaces for moving the infant platform.